- A light source for scanning and retrieving barcode information;
- A lens for reflecting the light at a certain angle over the barcode to generate the binary digital signals from the barcode; and
- A light sensor to capture these binary digital signals from the reflected light.
If a barcode scanner does not have these basic features, it will not be able to do its job.
But there are many types of USB barcode scanners, and these barcode scanners have features that are unique to them. The four basic types of USB barcode scanners are listed below, along with their features.
4 Types of Usb barcode Scanners
1. Pen-type or wand-type scanners. The pen-type or wand-type barcode scanner has the advantage of being the most inexpensive of all the different types of barcode scanners. It would have the light source and the light sensor placed side by side on the tip of the wand.
This type of barcode scanner is held by hand and needs to come into contact with the barcode itself for the scanner to work. The pen-type scanner is also moved across the barcode at a certain angle so it could capture the necessary information.
2. Laser barcode scanners. This type of barcode scanner works in a similar way to the pen-type scanner, except that the light source in a laser barcode scanner is a laser beam. Also, a laser barcode scanner is a lot more accurate than the pen-type scanner because it uses rotating mirrors that reflect the light back and forth the barcode. This allows the barcode reader to scan the barcode around 500 times or more per second, thus narrowing the margin for error in capturing the binary digital signals.
Another advantage of the laser barcode scanner over the pen-type scanner is that the scanner does not have to touch the barcode. The laser scanner can also work at a short distance from the barcode.
3. CCD barcode scanners. CCD or charged couple device barcode scanners utilize hundreds of light sensors arranged in a row at the head of the scanner to read the signals coming from the barcode. Unlike laser- and pen-type scanners, they measure ambient light instead of reflected light. CCD barcode scanners are often handheld and must be held an inch over the barcode itself.
4. Camera-based scanners. Unlike the types of scanners described above, which reads data from barcode signals with the use of light, camera-based scanners take a snapshot of the barcode instead with the use of a camera. Its built-in digital image processors glean the data from the snapshot.